Category: Belle and Sebastian

In addition to August’s hotly anticipated Boaty Weekender cruise with guests Yo La Tengo, Mogwai, Japanese Breakfest and many others, Belle and Sebastian have confirmed 8 summer appearances in the US and Canada. Tickets go on general sale this Friday at 10am local time.

Yo La Tengo’s annual series of Hanukkah shows to benefit their chosen charities resumed in 2017 at Lower Manhattan’s Bowery Ballroom and continues for another 8-night (duh) run at said venue running this December 2 thru the 9th. Tickets go on sale this Friday, September 14 at noon eastern time, and no-fee tickets are available in person at the Mercury Lounge box office starting the same day/time (cash only).

In addition, Yo La Tengo have been confirmed to participate in next August’s Belle and Sebastian curated Boaty Weekender. Tickets/info here.

Belle & Sebastian are thrilled to announce the initial lineup for The Boaty Weekender, their curated, four-day music festival at sea and holiday experience, sailing from Barcelona to Cagliari, Sardinia, 8-12 August 2019. Joining the legendary Scottish host band is an eclectic mix of acts including Mogwai, a reunited Camera Obscura, Django Django, Alvvays, The Buzzcocks, Japanese Breakfast, Honeyblood, HINDS, Kelly Lee Owens, Nilüfer Yanya, Whyte Horses , Tracyanne and Danny and more to be announced.

“It’s the start of September, Belle and Sebastian are facing the autumn term, back in the studio, back to the blackboard, sharpening their plectrums, already dreaming of next summer.

If only there was something to look forward to, a party, an adventure, something on the horizon, something to take the chill out of the thought of winter…

The Boaty Weekender: a sail around the Med, a nice little trip with friends, some of the best people, in some of the best places!

We’ve asked around, we collected the first shipmates. They’re going to earn their passage by playing their best for you, digging deep into their musical reservoirs.

We’re really going to try to make this a great holiday. We’d love to have you along for the trip!

“I thought about a new destination
I’m never short of new inspiration
Roll out the map and mark it with a gin!”
– Belle & Sebastian

The Boaty Weekender marks the 20th anniversary of Belle & Sebastian’s legendary 1998 Bowlie Weekender – a landmark in DIY festivals. The four-day floating festival and luxury holiday cruise around the Mediterranean, is a natural continuation of the band’s special and unmediated relationship with their fans for over three decades.

In addition to multiple performance by each band across 5 stages, this fan and band holiday experience will play host to one-of-a-kind artist collaborations, insightful Q&As, storyteller and panel sessions, theme parties, group activities, custom event merchandise and more. Guests who book in the first 350 staterooms will get access to a special performance of Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant – an album never before performed in its entirety. Those who reserve a stateroom at any point during the pre-sale will receive an exclusive Boaty Weekender Vinyl for their collection.

For the best selection of staterooms, fans are encouraged to register for the pre-sale of The Boaty Weekender. For more information and news on line-up announcements, visit online at http://www.theboatyweekender.com/

Are you a veteran festival goer only now beginning to feel like your time in the trenches is over? You’re a stalwart of the indie stages, but quite frankly mud doesn’t tan.

Say no more, this morning Belle & Sebastian have announced a four day festival cruise around the Mediterranean, sailing to Sardinia from Barcelona and back from August 8th – 12th 2019

The cruise will feature performances across five stages from some of your favourite acts, as well as a specially curated line-up of emerging artists too.

“We have got our hands on quite a large boat, and we’re loading it up with some ace groups for a four-day sail round The Med. Welcome to The Boaty Weekender: our new take on an old classic, The Bowlie Weekender. Join usAugust 8–12, 2019 on the beautiful Norwegian Jade as we depart from Barcelona and make our way to Cagliari, Sardinia to spend some time on dry land with you beautiful groovers.We want to do it right. Let’s have yoga and cocktails and club nights and themed balls and crèches and quizzes and scrabble tournaments – and gigs. Gigs upon gigs from some of our good friends and favourite acts in rock ‘n’ roll across five stages throughout the ship – and instead of stumbling home to a damp tent in a dark field, saunter back to a plush bed in your own stateroom on a luxury liner. – Belle & Sebastian

Belle and Sebastian have released a video for “Poor Boy,” a track from EP3 of How To Solve Our Human Problems. The video, which features Stuart and company on a normal evening off, is directed by Oscar Sansom & Ciaran Lyons of The Forest of Black.

In conjunction with the release of the new video, the group has also announced “The Belle and Sebastian Mixtape Maker,” which allows you to create a sharable Spotify playlist and customized image that replicates the How To Solve Our Human Problems cover.

Belle and Sebastian are currently on tour with Julien Baker in the United Kingdom. They’ll be touring North America this June, with support from Snail Mail, Perfume Genius and others.

Today Belle and Sebastian released their third EP in as many months, concluding the trilogy “How To Solve Our Human Problems.” The CD version compiling all fifteen tracks from the series is available today too– as is the limited edition box set containing all 3 EPs and poster insert.

Belle and Sebastian are on the road in Europe through the end of March, soon to be joined by Julien Baker. Then they’ll make their way across North America in June, supported on select dates by Perfume Genius and Snail Mail. Tickets for all dates are listed below and on sale now.

If all this weren’t enough, the group took a poll this week asking fans to contribute their thoughts to “Bowlie on a Boat,” a European cruise commemorating the 20th anniversary of their self-produced music festival Bowlie Weekender. The poll is live and awaiting your input here.

Following Friday’s release of the 2nd EP in Belle and Sebastian’s ‘How To Solve Our Human Problems’ trilogy, the band have added to an already impressive global tour (below, new shows in bold) with 16 June stops in the U.S. and Canada including a June 8 show at New York’s Forest Hills Stadium (with Perfume Genius and Frankie Cosmos in support). Tickets go on sale this Friday (January 26).

Belle and Sebastian have partnered with PLUS1 so that $1 from every ticket sold will go to support the volunteer rescue workers, the White Helmets, who risk their lives every day to help those affected by the conflict in Syria, regardless of their religion or politics

Belle and Sebastian kick off 2018 with shimmering new single “The Same Star.” Taken from Part 2 of the band’s new trilogy of EPs, ‘How To Solve Our Human Problems, the Sarah Martin penned, Leo Abrahams produced song brings together breezy guitars, feel-good rhythm and Martin’s bittersweet vocals for another showcase of the infectious, inquisitive and timeless pop on the band’s latest work.

The band concluded 2017 in festive fashion, with UK radio sessions for Lauren Laverne on 6 Music (listen HERE), Jo Whiley on Radio 2 (listen from 1:11:50 here), and BBC Radio Scotland’s The Quay Sessions, where they performed a special cover of The Waitresses’ “Christmas Wrapping.”

Belle and Sebastian will embark on UK and European tour dates through February and March and all upcoming dates can be found below.

Recalling their 1997 release of three consecutive EPs, ‘How To Solve Our Human Problems’, has the classic blend of joy and melancholy and idiosyncratic spirit that has always characterised Belle and Sebastian. A double album’s worth of music – richly melodic, deliciously literate, as gentle as a summer stream but as insistent as a river – How To Solve Our Human Problems is both an era of its own, and part of a long, rich history.

The 3×12″ ‘How To Solve Our Human Problem’ boxset is available with two different purchase options ; you can buy the set as a subscription which will ship an EP to your door each month, starting with the first EP today, the second EP on January 19th and the third EP and box + poster on Febraury 16th.)

OR you can buy the 3×12″ boxset as a complete set, which will ship to arrive on February 16th, 2018.

Alternatively, you may purchase a CD compilation of the 3 EPs, which will also ship to arrive on February 16th, 2018.

The 3 EPs are also available individually, without the boxset and poster, on each of the dates listed above. You can buy EP 1 HERE, EP 2 HERE and EP 3 HERE.

Alongside the release, Tidal are presenting a new video for “I’ll Be Your Pilot,” the latest single taken from the EP series, as a special, weeklong exclusive. A 60-second trailer of the video is embeddable HERE, and the full version is viewable exclusively on Tidal HERE.

Directed by Michael Sherrington, the gently poetic video corresponds with the signature B&S artwork that accompanies the EPs, with a simple yet moving collage of individuals that echoes the spectrum of human emotion.

The 3×12″ ‘How To Solve Our Human Problem’ boxset is available with two different purchase options ; you can buy the set as a subscription which will ship an EP to your door each month, starting with the first EP today, the second EP on January 19th and the third EP and box + poster on Febraury 16th.)

OR you can buy the 3×12″ boxset as a complete set, which will ship to arrive on February 16th, 2018.

Alternatively, you may purchase a CD compilation of the 3 EPs, which will also ship to arrive on February 16th, 2018.

The 3 EPs are also available individually, without the boxset and poster, on each of the dates listed above. You can buy EP 1 HERE, EP 2 HERE and EP 3 HERE.

Harkening back to their 1997 release of three consecutive EPs (‘Dog On Wheels’, ‘Lazy Line Painter Jane’, and ‘3.. 6.. 9 Seconds Of Light’), Belle and Sebastian will release three new EPs under the umbrella title ‘How To Solve Our Human Problems’, with the first EP coming out on December 8th, the second on January 19th, and the third on February 16th (vinyl and digital only). The EP trilogy will culminate with a compilation CD and a limited vinyl box set containing all three EPs, with the option of a box just for EP3 for those who have already purchased 1 and 2.

Belle and Sebastian has revealed a new song titled “I’ll Be Your Pilot”, which can be found on EP2. The single takes as its subject Stuart Murdoch’s young son: “Having your first kid is a huge event, so I wrapped a lot of things I felt about Denny into the song. Being a dad made me feel a little like the pilot in The Little Prince, hence all the references to the Sahara!”

Just as those three early EPs are a crucial part of the Belle and Sebastian canon, these three new releases aren’t merely a detour between albums, but as definitive releases in their own right. ‘How To Solve Our Human Problems’ is both an era of its own, and part of a long, rich history. ‘How To Solve Our Human Problems’ is, if you like, Belle and Sebastian Redux.

When Belle and Sebastian felt new music percolating, they decided to break from the working methods of the recent years and instead stay at home, record the tracks as and when, often producing themselves, working with friends and collaborators to see what emerged. Working in Glasgow gave them the freedom to work without the constraints that making an album can impose: they could take their time honing and experimenting.

One thing that has defined Belle and Sebastian has been their relationship with fans, and that’s apparent in the new EPs. For the three sleeves, the group issued a call to fans to come to be photographed by Murdoch at a studio in Belsize Park in North London. Fifty were selected, and all those photographed were also recorded answering the question: “How do you solve your human problems?”

The 3×12″ boxset is available with two different purchase options. You can buy the set as a subscription which will ship an EP to your door each month, starting with the first EP on December 8th, the second EP on January 19th and the third EP and box + poster on Febraury 16th.

OR you can buy the 3×12″ boxset as a complete set, which will ship to arrive on February 16th, 2018.

Alternatively, you may purchase a CD compilation of the 3 EPs, which will also ship to arrive on February 16th, 2018.

The 3 EPs are also available individually, without the boxset and poster, on each of the dates listed above. You can buy EP 1 HERE, EP 2 HERE and EP 3 HERE.

Filmed in Glasgow and directed by Blair Young of The Forest of Black, the new video for the latest Belle & Sebastian single – ‘We Were Beautiful’ – puts glorious Glasgow on a palette and mixes together the peaks and lulls of emotion & colour felt through ordinary city living.

Alongside the video accompaniment to the already released single is a slate of new European dates across February and March of next year.

The wake of a new single and now a new video would suggest a gearing-up of sorts from Glasgow’s treasured sons & daughters. What next?

Belle and Sebastian’s first new recordings since ‘Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance’ start to nudge their way into your consciousness with this morning’s surprise release of the single, “We Were Beautiful” (produced by Brian McNeill and Belle and Sebastian at Banchory Glasgow and Rocket Science Studio). Said release coincides with Belle and Sebastian’s current Summer tour of North America which commenced last night in Toronto and continues with rather massive events including but not limited to the Panorama Festival in NYC (tomorrow), Montreal’s Osheaga Festival, and an August 6 appearance at the Hollywood Bowl alongside Spoon.

Glasgow’s favourite sons and daughters Belle & Sebastian make their triumphant return to North America this Summer, playing a number of fabled venues such as Merriweather Post Pavilion and the Hollywood Bowl along a seven date jaunt.

They will be joined on selected dates by an enviable supporting cast – with Spoon, Julien Baker, Andrew Bird and Ex-Hex all having been confirmed.

The band has been recording new material in their native Glasgow, due to be revealed later in 2017 on Matador Records. In addition to selections from 2015’s Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance and the rest of the their iconic catalogue, Belle & Sebastian fans can expect a taste of new music on this run of dates.

All tickets (except the Raleigh and LA shows) will go on sale this Friday, February 17th.

You may be familiar with a sporting event by the name of the Olympic Games, which is taking place in Rio this year. To coincide with this, Belle and Sebastian have released a song “Olympic Village, 6am” in video-only format as the track and field events commence today.

Stuart Murdoch says:

“Belle and Sebastian dig the Olympics, love the Olympic ideal, love that the world gets together for a big ‘sports day’ once every four years. We can’t be part of it, though we’d like to be. So we recorded a piece of music with Rio in mind, specifically the Track and Field. Here it is: ‘Olympic Village, 6AM’.”

It has been 20 years since Belle and Sebastian release of the beloved album Tigermilk. To celebrate with fans that have been there since the beginning and those they have picked up along the way, the band are performing the album (and other songs) TONIGHT at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Set times for tonight below.

Doors 7

Teleman: 7.45-8.15

Belle & Sebastian: 8.45-10.45.

Tomorrow the band will ignite the evening showcasing If You’re Feeling Sinister (and MORE).

WHERE DID THE TIME GO? In June 2016 we will be celebrating 20 years since Belle and Sebastian entered this godforsaken world with two very special shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall where they will perform their 1996 debut Tigermilk on June 22nd, and If You’re Feeling Sinister on the following night on June 23rd; both nights featuring songs from their entire catalogue.

Tickets go on pre-sale this Wednesday (22nd July) and on general sale on Friday (24th July). You can purchase them here. Not one to be missed!

Above and below respectively : from last night, Belle and Sebastian performing “Allie” and “Sukie In The Graveyard”, the former culled from ‘Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance’, the latter from ‘The Life Pursuit” and a non-broadcast web exclusive taped for Monday’s “Late Night With Seth Meyers”. Seth’s other guests were Maya Rudolph and the guy who played king-of-the-wolves on “True Blood”, which is a big step up from the time one of our bands was denied couch time in favor of “Trapper John M.D.” 2nd fiddle Gregory Harrison. We’re all moving up in the world!